A standard double- or multiple-loop strapping machine has two or more strap-guiding channels and at least one guide. The strap-guiding channels meet at a sealing head and so that one channel feeds into the other to form multiple loops around the package with a single piece of strapping whose two ends can be fixed together.
A method and a corresponding strapping machine of the above-described structure are described in EP 2 116 470. As explained therein in detail, such machines usually serve for bundling objects or packages to be strapped. For this purpose, a seal head of the strapping machine is regularly positioned on the package to be strapped. Subsequently, the strap is guided around the package the requisite number of times and tensioned. At the end of the strapping process, the ends of the strap are connected to each other within the sealing head, typically by welding together the ends of the normally thermoplastic strap. This is generally carried out in a firmly bonded or form-fitting manner. The strap coming from a supply roll is cut off and the sealing head is lifted off the package. Consequently, at the end of the described procedure, the package can be removed from the strapping machine. This principle has proven itself.
In this prior art system according to EP 2 116 470, the strap is guided several times around the package to be strapped. Hence, two strap loops are formed that cross at an intersection, normally on a side of the package opposite where the strap ends are welded together. The strap-guiding channels are connected where the straps intersect via an intersection block that is functions as a guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,634 describes a packaging station of a packaging machine in which a stack of goods is strapped with a packaging strap. For this purpose, a work table for receiving the stack of goods is provided. In addition, a guide is provided for guiding the packaging strap around the stack of goods. The work table is at least partly formed by a turntable that is rotatable about an axis and has at least four sectors. The sectors have at least two belts that extend diametrically or secantally of the rotational axis, at least one of which is set in a guide groove. This way, the stack of goods can be strapped with a plurality of intersecting packing straps.
However, in practice some packages, in particular small ones, do not require multiple strapping. This means, depending on dimension and configuration of the package, a flexible attaching of the strap is required, which can not be provided in this consequence by the present prior art.